PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Let it never be said that JustBill doesn’t throw a hell of a party. The local master photographer is celebrating his 12th year in the Boston rock scene – 12 years of tirelessly supporting local music, spreading the word about great new acts, taking incredible pictures, throwing huge afterparties and basement shows, and generally being an all-around great guy. This year he’s assembled an incredible lineup to rock TTs Friday night, jam-packed with PGB Favorites.

Chris Mascara gets the night started with with his cast of Boston rock all-stars (Bo Barringer of MEandJOANCOLLINS and Matt Graber of Sarah Rabdau & The Self-Employed Assassins). The otherworldly rock stylings of Planetoid follow them up at 10, with a sound caught somewhere between Led Zeppelin and Queens of the Stone Age… IN SPAAAAACE! Fresh of a St. Paddy’s day appearance on WMFO’s popular On The Town show, I Pistol will be rocking out third on the bill, this time bringing in Daanen Krouth of The Luxury to rip it up on lead guitar. Forgetful Jones will be closing out this show, the reggae-infused funk rockers will get you jumping and amped up to party all night long. This is a solid bill front to back, each band hand-picked by JustBill himself for your maximum rocking pleasure. Don’t miss this show!

9pm: Mascara

10pm: Planetoid

11pm: I, Pistol

12am: Forgetful Jones

Thursday, January 14th @ TT The Bears

PGB Staff across town will be converging on this show for sure! This show features a great lineup of bluesy Americana-style rock – heartfelt vocals, ripping guitar, and a sweet groove sure to get everyone in the bar moving. PGB Favorites The Few have been hard at work in the studio for quite some time now, so this is their first Boston appearance in months. We’re looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeve in terms of new material – and possibly new guitars crafted by the band’s bassist and Becker Guitars luthier Ryan Martin!

Friday, January 15th @ Church

This should be an excellent show. Varsity Drag is Ben Deily from the Lemonheads‘ side project, they’ve been rocking around Boston for quite some time now and are ready to lay down their new CD Night Owls on the Boston masses. ‘Drag features Deily’s sugary sweet vocals laid down over catchy-as-all-hell uptempo pop hooks. They’ll be joined on the bill by rockers I, Pistol, featuring Rick Taylor’s commanding lead vocals and Daanen Krouth from The Luxury on lead guitar.

Friday, January 15th @ Olivers

OK so we’ve all seen better flyers. Let me just say that and get it out of the way right now. But hey, we also all know that a good flyer doesn’t necessarily dictate a good show, and thus a bad one doesn’t mean the show’s going to be bad as well. Case in point on this show here. Back Seat Lover is a Pearl Jam tribute – that’s cool, but hey, you know all the songs. The real hidden gem in this lineup is Moonstone Lady. They put on an AMAZING live show, full of energy. Each member of the band is extremely talented, like ridiculously so. Think Stevie Ray Vaughn meets Dream Theater – one part blues, one part prog, all rock. I just received the EP they’ll be releasing at this show and I’m blown away. Take a minute to check out the songs they’ve posted on their myspace, then do yourself a favor and head on down to Olivers to catch their live show!

Saturday, January 16th @ PA’s Lounge

More PGB Favorites playing this weekend! St. Helena had a solid 2009 featuring a critically acclaimed album Slow Jack, an appearance at CMJ, a sordid affair with BBC’s One Night Band, a benefit show for Pinups for Pitbulls, and countless other performances. They’re currently in the studio recording a follow-up album to their last EP, but have taken time off from recording to put together an excellent lineup over at PA’s this Saturday. Broken River Prophet and The Northeast Sky feature veterans of the Boston music scene coming together for new projects, while the Ugly Fucklings, aside from having one of the best names in the entire city, play an impossibly fun style of punk rock infused with 50’s rock and roll.

Sunday, January 17th @ Church

This is a nice little Sunday show here. RIBS has a very cool sound, well worth checking out. They’ve got the noise-rock thing going, while at the same time featuring layered compositions that add so much more substance. The dark combination of vocals and frantic guitars enable their sound to jump from a Death From Above 1979 to a fast-paced, much less depressing Joy Division. They’ll be joined on the bill by Art Decade, with an experimental style that PGB Staffer Nick Grieco describes as “The Mars Volta and Rx Bandits had a baby named Frank Zappa, who grew up listening to The Fall of Troy and Damiera.” If that sounds like your style, you definitely want to check these guys out. One more thing about this show – its cheap! Tickets are $8 at the door, but RIBS was nice enough to provide us with an advance purchase link that lets you pick them up for only $6. Click here to take advantage!

Halloween weekend in the city of Boston is always full of great shows by some of the best in the local music scene – and this year is certainly no exception to the rule! Every day this weekend features incredible lineups at venues all over town, along with festive bonuses such as costumes, beer, prizes, more beer, candy, some booze, covers, and more! If you weren’t planning on going out to catch any music this holiday weekend, you might reconsider after checking out this listing. Have plans to go to a party? Work around it and stop by these shows before or after the party to catch a band or two – PGB fully guarantees that each and every one of these venues has booze for you to drink while you’re there. Seriously, I promise. So get on your creepiest costume and get ready to rock out! Be sure to frighten some children on your way out to the show – you know, even more so than you do on a regular day in regular clothing… scary looking bastard.

(continue reading…)